huckabee, romney and palin all ran national campaigns last time. newt gingrich has been a national figure for two decades. >> this is a contract with americans for america. >> reporter: there are personal considerations as well. mike huckabee is making real money for the first time in his life with a t.v. show and speeches. so is sarah palin. indiana governor mitch daniels is concerned about the impact on his family and, despite huge republican gains last fall and a democratic incumbent can mediocre job approval ratings, president obama is seen as a formidable political figure who will be difficult to defeat. >> thank you. >> president obama at worst is even or in many cases is leading by as many as ten points. >> reporter: one tempting factor is that for the first time in decades there's no clear g.o.p. front-runner and nobody can predict who the favorite will be and when it comes to legal predictions nobody's usually right. katie? >> couric: all right, jeff, should be interesting. thanks very much. and coming up next on the "cbs evening news," wh